to feel I could blow my top at the local council

[SimonCowellIsSatan]

It's official, there IS a paedophile festering around every single corner!

My son has swimming tonight, he is in the preschool lessons so after the summer he will be in the school age lessons when he starts primary one (age 5).

I've just been informed by the community centre that from then onwards, I won't be allowed to sit in with him and watch him with his lessons because myself and all the other people might be paedophiles.

How totally, totally ridiculous is that?! I assume I'd be able to buy a ticket for the adult pool and go swimming at the same time and still be a paedophile if I wanted to or will everyone over the age of 5 be banned from a 3 mile radius of the school? And obviously lifeguards and instructors aren't ever paedophiles.

what upsets me the most, I used to feel sad that my parents didn't have the time to come and watch me swimming.....now despite the fact that I would gladly make the effort to watch my children I can't because of how stupid society has become over the paedophillia phenomen. Let's all jump on the paedophile bandwagon! It seems to be the people who don't fiddle with kids are the ones who suffer.

Well, you can shove your lessons up your arses. The woman who teaches son is a moody cow anyway and in all honesty I'd rather do it myself.

Do. This is ridiculous and you should complain. Letter to the local paper?

Do you know what? Anyone can go swimming with a pool full of children during an open swim session.

How on earth can you police the watching of your OWN child and have nothing in place to stop a paedophile swimming at an open session?

Madness.

Is that even legal?

That is utterly ridiculous!!

Barking lunacy. Yes, complain like hell and then find another teacher. Swimming teachers are often decidedly odd IME (apologies to the hoards of completely normal swimming teachers out there).

SCIS - what seems all the more ridiculous is that your new found status of "potential paedophile" only comes about because your child has reached an age to go into a different group.

I'd suggest making a formal complaint to the community centre, the local council (assuming they licence it or fund/run it) and your local newspaper and future MP.

You can still withdraw your DS from the lessons even if they pull out all the stops (on the grounds you have lost all confidence in their ability to use commonsense!) and teach him yourself. Just give them hell in the meantime, for your own pleasure, as they will no doubt attempt to justify their policy.

Complete idiots when they create rules like that!

Our local pool has a "no parents by the pool during swim lessons" rule but this is because they think it distracts the children, not because they think the parents are perverts.